Living Arrangement
by stealth gato
Summary: Sasuke is selling his house. Naruto is a famous artist whom Sasuke is in love with. WARNING: lemon, yaoi, language. sasu/naru. Gaa/naru. sai/naru. Ita/naru. ita/sasu.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so here is the piece i had been working on. It took me a few days longer than i had hoped and i kind of got bored with it so it might not really be the best. but i had to get it out of my head so i could move on. so, anyway...

**Warning** boy/boy. yaoi. lemon in later chapter. sasu/naru. gaa/naru. ita/sasu. ita/naru. sai/naru. character death. language.  
**Disclaimer** i don't own naruto or any of the characters.

Sasuke grumbled as he straightened his tie. He was trying to sell his house and was meeting a potential buyer in a few minutes. His parents had always taught him to make good first impressions. He had cleaned his house from top to bottom, decorated all of the rooms to look 'homey' and even baked some cookies to make it smell nice. His suit itched; the dry-cleaners hadn't done a very good job and left his suit too stiff. He shifted uncomfortably in one of his kitchen chairs. Finally the doorbell rang. Sasuke stood and checked his appearance in the entry mirror. He opened the door and started to shut it again when he saw the person standing there.

"Oi," The boy said catching the door before Sasuke closed it.

"I'm not interested in whatever you're selling." Sasuke grumbled at the man.

"Are you Uchiha?" The man asked.

"What's it to you?" Sasuke growled.

"I'm here to look at the house." The man said. Sasuke opened the door again and looked at the man standing there. Sasuke frowned. He started at the feet. The man wore dirty flip-flops. Then there were the baggy black cargo pants covered in paint and dust and dirt and full of holes. He wore an orange muscle shirt and a black vest with orange pin-stripes that was opened. He had a bandage on his left hand with sharpie drawings similar to the tattoos that decorated his right arm. He wore a black leather necklace with an emerald pendant that landed in the middle of his chest. He had three scars on each cheek a few paint smears on his right cheek. He had the biggest shit-eating grin Sasuke had ever seen but it was completely genuine. His eyes were closed into upside-down 'u'. He wore a pair of green goggles on his forehead and had a paintbrush sticking out of the strap behind his ear. Bright blonde bangs hung down around the goggles and then the rest of his hair stuck up wildly.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The man smiled. He opened his eyes and looked at the house.

"No way." Sasuke accidentally said out loud.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke.

"You're Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked. The boy smiled and nodded. "The world famous artists?" Sasuke said looking the man up and down. Sasuke was a fan of Uzumaki Naruto's work. He went to a few of the galleries where his work was on display. He read any article that came out about the man and even had a copy of his autobiography even though it was more of a picture book and a few stories about his life. But there were never any pictures of him and this was not what Sasuke was expecting.

"World famous? I didn't know I was that good." The man laughed scratching the back of his neck.

"You've held shows in the very best art galleries all over the world. People everywhere refer to you as the youngest artistic genius in history as well as the greatest artist of the century. And you don't know you're good?" Sasuke asked somewhat shocked. The man shrugged and stepped into the house. Sasuke's brain froze for a second. Uzumaki Naruto was in his house. Did I mention that Sasuke was in love with Uzumaki Naruto? Of course he had never met the man but from his artwork whether it was painting, sculpting, sketches, or photography and his life story Sasuke didn't care what he really looked like he was in love.

"This place is great." Naruto said kicking off his flip-flops in the entry and stepping into the rest of the house. Sasuke turned slowly to look at the man now standing in the middle of his living room. "How long have you lived here?" Naruto asked holding up his hands in the air and staring between them at the front wall.

"Not very, a few years or so. The original plans I had for this house fell through and now I have to move back into the city cause I can't afford this place." Sasuke shrugged. Naruto looked up at the ceiling.

"You have high ceilings, that's good." Naruto nodded only half paying attention to what Sasuke had just said.

"Um yeah, they're about twenty down here and ten upstairs." Sasuke said.

"Great." Naruto said.

"Uh, would you like me to give you the tour?" Sasuke asked.

"I want to buy this house, Mr. Uchiha." Naruto said turning to Sasuke.

"Really? You haven't even looked around yet." Sasuke said.

"That's okay; I looked at the floor plans online. It doesn't really matter what it looks like right now because I'm going to be changing it soon." Naruto said pulling the paintbrush out from the goggle strap behind his ear.

"What?" Sasuke asked slightly confused.

"Your house is the ideal location. At first I was just going to design and build my own house but then I found yours online and decided remodeling this house would be significantly less work." Naruto smiled at him.

"Oh." Sasuke said. Naruto tapped the wooden handle of the paintbrush on the wall he had just been staring at and nodded.

"I'm gonna turn this wall into windows. What do you think?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke.

"It's your house, why should I care?" Sasuke asked.

"You're an interior decorator, right?" Naruto asked.

"No I am a spatial visualization designer." Sasuke said. Naruto raised his eyebrow and smirked.

"You made that up?" Naruto asked.

"Pretty much, but there isn't a title for a designer of everything. I design houses and then everything that goes into it furniture, flatware, curtains, bed sheets, you name it I've designed it. My family business started out as a furniture store then we kept growing and now we build houses and in the show houses they are all fully furnished with our products and I'm the designer of all of it." Sasuke said.

"Did you design this house?" Naruto asked.

"No, I didn't want to live in one of my company's houses. I mean all the furniture in here is stuff that I designed but I didn't want to live in one of our houses." Sasuke said.

"Well, Mr. fancy designer in his nice suit, what do you think about this wall being windows?" Naruto asked Sasuke growled. He did feel like an idiot all dressed up like this especially when Naruto was wearing dirty, casual clothes but Naruto didn't have to make fun of him for it.

"Why do you want the walls to be windows?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, I like windows. They make the room seem bigger, don't you think?" Naruto asked. "Plus, with this view it would be amazing." Naruto said pointing at the open window already in the wall. Through the window you could see the city skyline and a bright blue sky. The house was on a tall hill just outside the city in a secluded area. The lot for the house was a few square acres so there wouldn't be any new houses popping up to obstruct the view.

"It's a good view." Sasuke nodded.

"You're telling me. The view from my apartment is a brick wall." Naruto laughed. Sasuke smiled a bit. "So, you think windows would be good?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, sure." Sasuke nodded. Naruto smiled and looked around the rest of the living room.

"You're a fan?" Naruto asked noticing a few of his paintings hanging on the wall.

"Hmm?" Sasuke asked not really hearing the question.

"You have copies of my paintings hanging on your wall. Either you're trying to suck up or you're a fan." Naruto smiled pointing at the paintings.

"Copies?" Sasuke asked. "No, these are originals; I bought them straight from the gallery." Naruto laughed.

"Sorry, honey, but I keep the originals. You got copies." Naruto smiled. Sasuke frowned at that, he had spent a lot of money on those paintings. He was kind of nervous for Naruto to see the sculptures upstairs and the painting in his bedroom.

"Well, what else do you have planned?" Sasuke asked changing the subject back to the house. Naruto smiled and looked around the room.

"I was thinking of taking this wall out. It will open the kitchen to the rest of the house. Actually, the dining room wall will also be taken out." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded. "What do you think?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke.

"That sounds great." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and walked around downstairs a bit more, mumbling to himself. Sasuke watched Naruto closely. This was the man he had been in love with for the past two years and he was in his house right now. Naruto, although not what he had expected, was beautiful. His azure eyes took in every detail, his smooth, pink lips moved temptingly as he muttered to himself, his unruly blonde locks swayed with every movement he made meaning they were naturally like that rather than styled with gel. His hair looked really soft, Sasuke wanted to touch it, he wanted to touch him, but stuffed his hands in his pockets to restrain himself.

"This is going to be the perfect house for us." Naruto said to himself but slightly to Sasuke as well. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. Naruto had said us and although Sasuke knew it was stupid to think it, he still somewhat thought that the 'us' included him.

"Us?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, yeah, me and my boyfriend really want to have a house and this one will be perfect after I'm finished." Naruto smiled happily looking around the downstairs once more. Sasuke's heart stopped at that. Of course Naruto had a boyfriend. Sasuke had read the autobiography. Although it ended when Naruto was eighteen it mentioned him having a lover.

"Oh? Where's your boyfriend?" Sasuke asked.

"Business trip. He's the president of his own company. It's pretty big too; I think they've done work with your company. Suna Inc?" Naruto asked. Sasuke frowned. He knew Suna Inc. He knew the president of Suna Inc. He didn't like the president at all and now disliked him even more.

"Yeah, I know them." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and looked at the stairs.

"Care to show me the upstairs?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded.

"Well, here will be your master bedroom." Sasuke said showing the bedroom. Naruto laughed.

"Well this wall will have to go." He said taping his paintbrush on the wall that separated the master bedroom from the stairs and entry.

"What?" Sasuke asked slightly confused.

"Yeah, I never believed in master bedrooms. I'm gonna turn this into a balcony for my work space." Naruto said. "Where is the next biggest room?" he asked walking out of the master bedroom.

"Um, this one." Sasuke said. Naruto looked into the room that Sasuke had pointed out. He nodded.

"Gaara's office." He said before stepping out again.

"And then there are two rooms back here." Sasuke said. Naruto looked at the two rooms at the end of the hall. Naruto walked into the room at the front of the house and looked out the window.

"Get on the bed." Naruto told Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked.

"Come on, get on the bed." Naruto said crawling onto the bed and patting the space next to him. Sasuke sat down where Naruto had told him to and Naruto pushed him so his back was against the mattress. "Now, arm here and here then let me just get right here," Naruto mumbled as he wrapped Sasuke's arms around him and then curled against his side. Naruto's arms wrapped around Sasuke's middle and one of his legs wrapped around Sasuke's and then Naruto put this head on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke prayed that Naruto couldn't feel Sasuke's heart hammering against his ribcage.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Checking the room for afternoon nap quality." Naruto said. "I always take naps around this time." Naruto said.

"Your paintbrush is poking me." Sasuke said trying to reach for the paintbrush in Naruto's goggle strap.

"Touch the paintbrush and I'll murder you." Naruto growled dangerously. Sasuke immediately went back to the position Naruto had put him in. Naruto laid comfortably there for a minute. "Your windows will need to be bigger, I can't see out of them. What kind of bedroom has windows you can't see out of?" Naruto asked.

"You want this to be your bedroom?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Naruto asked.

"It's the smallest room in the house." Sasuke said.

"Bedrooms should be intimate, don't you think?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't answer. Naruto laid there for a few more seconds and yawned.

"You're not going to fall asleep on me are you?" Sasuke asked somewhat kidding, although he really wouldn't have minded. Naruto laughed a bit.

"Nah, I can't sleep with clothes on. Me and Gaara started sleeping naked and now I can't wear anything if I want to sleep." Naruto said. Sasuke swallowed audibly.

"I need a drink." He said quickly standing up and disentangling himself from Naruto. He left the room and Naruto followed him. "You want anything? Beer, wine, vodka, whiskey, anything?" Sasuke asked as he poured some whiskey in a glass for himself. Naruto laughed.

"No thanks, man. Gaara would flip if he found out." Naruto smiled.

"He doesn't like you drinking?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. He's kind of protective and says I get clingy. He's probably gonna have a heart attack when I turn 21 cause Kiba and I are going to a club without him." Naruto laughed. Sasuke froze. Sasuke knew how old Naruto was but it was the fact that Naruto had said it out loud that reminded Sasuke that this man was in fact a 19 year old kid. A just turned 19 five months ago kid.

"Shit." Sasuke said under his breath and poured more whiskey into his glass.

"This is a great house." Naruto said not really noticing Sasuke's sudden change of mood. Sasuke looked up at him and smiled slightly.

"I'm glad you like it." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and nodded.

"I should get going. I have work that I need to do." Naruto said.

"Yeah, okay." Sasuke nodded.

"Hey, do you think I can come back tomorrow? Maybe we can draw up some plans for the new house. I'm sure you know more about that kind of stuff than me. I'll even let you design the furniture." Naruto smiled.

"Sure, that would be great." Sasuke smiled and nodded. Naruto grinned and nodded as well.

"Awesome, I'll see you tomorrow then, Uchiha." He smiled and left. The door shut and Sasuke heard the motorcycle starting up and drive off. Sasuke set the empty whiskey glass on the countertop and groaned.

"Why did you say yes, idiot?" Sasuke asked. He knew this was not going to end well for him for multiple reasons. 1. Sasuke always expected to get what he wanted. 2. Sasuke wanted Naruto. 3. Naruto was dating the overprotective jackass, Gaara, who happened to be the best business partner his family's company had. 4. Sasuke couldn't even think about Naruto without risking destroying that partnership and humiliating himself and pissing his family off. Sasuke was screwed. He was in love with a kid who was completely off limits and he had a problem with paying attention to limits.


	2. Chapter 2

yay, chapter 2. DON'T OWN. yaoi. Sasu/naru. Sai/naru in this chapter. character death in this chapter. mention of sex. lemon later.

_When I got out, all I had left was Kyuubi, a photo album and the paintbrush Deidara had given me. These three things were my greatest treasures because it was all I had in the world. I met Deidara and Sasori's friend and he gave me everything I could have wanted, hell, he funded my career, but no matter what he gave me these three things remained my most precious possessions._

Sasuke touched the drawing of the stuffed fox, the black photo album and the long, wooden paintbrush. He had woken up that morning and remembered Naruto freaking out about him touching the paintbrush and started looking for why it was so important to him in the autobiography. He had read the book multiple times but now it seemed new to him. It had always been a sad but interesting story to him but now it was someone's actual life and it was the first time it really hit him. Sasuke heard a motorcycle pull up.

"Oi! Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as the motorcycle was turned off. Sasuke quickly put the book up and went downstairs to open the door. Today Naruto wore orange converse, black jeans stained with paint and an orange belt and a white tank top with an orange swirl painted on it, the strap of his army green messenger bag nearly covered the swirl up, the emerald necklace was still there, the green goggles and the paintbrush were still there. The paint from his cheek was gone but his hands were stained with black and red paint. "Good, you're up. I was afraid I would get here too early." Naruto smiled.

"It's ten." Sasuke said looking at his clock. Naruto smiled.

"Right. I forget people don't usually wake up as late as me." Naruto said.

"Well, are you going to come in?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. He stepped into the house and looked at Sasuke.

"So, where should we do it?" Naruto asked. Sasuke inwardly grimaced as his mind took that phrase to something he knew Naruto didn't mean.

"The kitchen table is pretty big. There would be enough room." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Sasuke went to grab some sketch paper form his office and then was back to the kitchen to join Naruto. Naruto was sitting there with his messenger bag open. A large sketch book sat on the table and he was digging in the bag. "What are you looking for?" Sasuke asked.

"Pencil." Naruto mumbled.

"I have some." Sasuke said. Naruto looked up and smiled.

"Of course you do." Naruto said and then put his bag on the floor. Sasuke set his paper down on the table and the two started working. Every once in a while Sasuke would catch himself staring at Naruto. Yes, he was in love with the boy but also he was amazed by him. Naruto really knew what he was talking about and was very passionate about everything he did. Naruto knew exactly what he wanted the house to be like and Sasuke helped him put it on paper. When the day was over, Naruto said he would be back again tomorrow so they could design stuff for the house. Sasuke went back to his room and pulled out a magazine about Naruto's first art show. His enthusiasm had reminded him of something Naruto had said in the article. The picture for the article was one of Naruto's 'sculptures'. It was two concrete sidewalk stones covered with red paint and a canvas board built to be the outline of a body painted black rested on top of the red. The piece was titled 'lost suicide.' Sasuke had seen this piece at a show and was disturbed by it.

_"It's supposed to be disturbing. I remember looking down at Sai as he laid on those blocks completely broken. Death is something that scares and fascinates us. People look on in morbid fascination and never truly understand what it's like for the person left behind. But death is beautiful in it's own dark way. It's mysterious, violently abrupt, scary as all hell and more emotional than anything I could ever create. I'm no stranger to death and this was created in honor of everyone who had been that person left behind. No one can understand the emotion in this piece unless they have experienced the loss I have."_

This boy had a passion that Sasuke had never seen before in anyone. Sasuke had never felt any passion for what he did. He just did it because he was good at it. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, he liked his job a lot, but there wasn't the same kind of passion he saw in Naruto. But everything Naruto talked about today was about how he wanted the room to be happy and open and inviting, not once had he even hinted at his tragic past. Sasuke again was amazed by the boy and not only his passion but strength to carry on. He was amazed and jealous.

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto called banging on Sasuke's door early the next morning. Sasuke grumbled and got out of his bed.

"Naruto, it's six in the morning." Sasuke yawned opening the door to find Naruto jumping excitedly.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't sleep and so I decided to come over early so that we can get started. I went to the paint and fabric stores last night and got a few ideas for us to design stuff for." Naruto smiled setting his messenger bag on the couch. Today Naruto wore faded and torn blue jeans with sharpie writing and doodles covering them and a tight black t-shirt with a maroon colored vest. The goggles were hanging around his neck and he wore a burgundy newsboy hat with the paint brush stuck behind his ear. He smiled brightly as he sat down on the couch.

"Okay, I guess we can get started." Sasuke said. Of course Naruto already knew what he wanted. It was fairly easy for Sasuke to get down on paper all of the designs for Naruto's house. "Hey, what are you going to do with that last room?" Sasuke asked. They hadn't talked about the fourth upstairs room at all. Naruto actually had barely even set foot in there.

"I don't know. I was wanting Gaara to do something with it, but he said he didn't care. What do you think I should do?" Naruto ask. Sasuke thought for a minute.

"Let me design that room for you. It'll be my special project." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled as he looked up at Sasuke.

"Really? That's awesome of you." Then his smile turned into a frown. "But, I don't have anything to give to you in return." He said. Sasuke shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke said. Naruto's eyes brightened a bit.

"How about I make you a one of a kind original work, made especially for you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke smiled.

"You'd do that?" Sasuke asked. "You don't usually make special pieces."

"Yeah, well I'm sure you don't make special designs either." Naruto smiled at him. Sasuke smile. He really did love Naruto. They had finished all of the designs and Naruto had to leave. And by had to I mean Sasuke told him he had business he needed to attend to and after Naruto left Sasuke jerked off in his shower. Sasuke knew he was now in very dangerous territory. He knew getting closer to Naruto was a bad idea but this was really bad now. After the shower Sasuke put on a suit and went to his office in the city. It was about two in the afternoon and he knew his brother would be there.

"Oh, Mr. Uchiha, we didn't know you were coming in." One of the receptionists said as she and the other receptionist stared at Sasuke.

"Hn. Is Itachi in?" Sasuke asked. The two girls nodded. Sasuke walked to Itachi's office and knocked.

"Come in." A voice called form the other side. Sasuke opened the door an stepped inside. Itachi smiled up at his brother. "Yes, little brother, what do you need?"

"I'm remodeling my house." Sasuke said. Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you were going to sell it." Itachi said.

"Well, I am, but my buyer wants to change a few things about the house and I was wondering if I could get a team to start tomorrow?" Sasuke asked.

"I haven't even seen the plans for the remodeling yet, Sasuke. I have to make sure you're not going to do anything dangerous." Itachi said.

"I drew up the plans myself, brother. I know they will work." Sasuke said. Itachi nodded.

"Very well." He said.

"Um," Sasuke said softly.

"What else?" Itachi asked.

"Well, I've also designed the furniture and stuff and was wondering if the warehouse could start on it? It's all basic stuff and a complete set so we could possibly even put them in our line for next year." Sasuke said. Itachi looked up at Sasuke.

"You must like this one, little brother, having spent so much effort on him." Itachi smirked. Sasuke knew his brother could see it clearly.

"The buyer and his boyfriend are wanting to move into the house in a month or two." Sasuke said emphasizing the 'boyfriend' part. Itachi frowned.

"You're not doing anything stupid are you, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

"I'm being completely professional." Sasuke said. He set his room designs on Itachi's desk. "Here are my designs. I'd like to have the set for this house finished in two months when they move in." Sasuke said and walked out of the room. Itachi looked at the designs. They were fairly difficult meaning the client knew what they wanted or Sasuke was trying hard to impress them or a mixture of the two which it was in this case.

"Your designs are good, I'll start them in the morning. The crew will be at your house at five." Itachi said in his intercom. He knew Sasuke was still in the lobby and would hear him. Sasuke smirked as he walked out of the lobby. He made it back home and laid on his bed. There was nothing on TV that night that he knew of, and he didn't really want to watch a movie so he groaned as he grabbed Naruto's book.

"I really need to stop obsessing over him." Sasuke told himself.

'no way, have you seen how hot he is?' the voice in Sasuke's head asked. 'obsess over him as much as you possibly can. he's so hot.'

"Will you shut up?" Sasuke growled at the voice.

'come on, tomorrow when he comes over just jump him and ravish him wherever you want.' the voice laughed. 'you know he'd probably like it. He is Gaara's bitch after all.'

"That's exactly why I can't. He's Gaara's." Sasuke grumbled and opened to a page in the book to find a photograph of a heart drawn in the sand next to a picture of rocks kind of set up in a heart in the sand. Sasuke read the writing underneath.

_I was at a beach a week or so after the accident. I was walking near the water when I saw two hearts. One was drawn in the sand while the other was made of fairly large, fairly heavy rocks. I think love is like a heart in the sand at the beach. The heart that was drawn in the sand was easy to make, it lasts as long as it can before the tide changes and it's washed away forever. Shallow love isn't what I'm looking for. The other heart made of heavy rocks obviously took some time to form. Whoever put it there wanted to make their mark and knew that even when the tide changes or little kids go running through the sand, it will last. I want to find that person who will put forth effort and try to make their impression last on me. That kind of unconditional love is what I lost when my dad died. Not like the 'in love' kind of love but that deeper connection with another person, fill in the holes kind of love. Of course I'm looking for a person to be the 'in love' while filling a hole in my being that had been specifically made for them when I was created. I went back to that beach when I was fifteen. The rocks were still there and I took this picture. They had moved a bit and suffered through the years I'm sure, but they were still there. The drawing in the sand was me. I took the picture and then watched as the water washed it away. My life is always changing. But I'm hoping that in another five years I can go back to that beach and find the stone heart still._

Sasuke put the book down. That was a terrible page to open up on.

"Hyuuga would say it's destiny." Sasuke laughed to himself. He laid back on his bed and started to drift to sleep. "I can't even stop thinking about him." Sasuke sighed. He was definitely in trouble. He didn't even get to sleep before the workers arrived the next morning. They packed up anything valuable or that could have been broken and put it all into a storage container in the driveway. Sasuke was able to save a few things before they got packed up. But it was really, Naruto's book, a few of his cds, his toiletries and a few sets of clothes. Unlike most contractors, the men who worked of the Uchiha company got the job done and fast. Sasuke would really only be out of his house for a week or two at most. It took a few hours to get everything packed into the storage container but then they went at remodeling the house. The first thing to go was the kitchen wall and the dining room wall so that the entire downstairs was now a big room. The walls were taken down by noon and that was when Naruto showed up in orange track pants and a black tank top. There was a band around his arm holding his music player there, the ear-buds hung from his neck. His paintbrush stuck in the band with the music player. The boy was flushed, sweaty and panting and Sasuke almost got a nosebleed.

"Hey, Sas," Naruto panted.

"Hey, Naruto, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Going for a run. I usually run across the city to visit my granny but today I decided to run over here instead. It's actually closer. What's going on here?" Naruto asked looking at all the workers.

"Remodeling. I want to have it finished before you move in." Sasuke said handing him a water bottle. Naruto smiled and drank some of the water.

"That's very considerate of you, Uchiha." He smiled. "You know most sellers wouldn't put forth this much effort. And any remodeling would be done by the buyer after the house is bought." He told him.

"Yeah, well I have nothing else to do currently. The only job I was supposed to do recently was design a new interior look and I did that when we designed for this house." Sasuke shrugged. Naruto smiled.

"Well, I'm glad I could help." He said. Sasuke scratched his head.

"Um, I'd offer you a place to sit down but as you can see, it's kind of a danger zone in here." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded.

"Come on, lets go outside then." Naruto said taking Sasuke's hand and pulling him outside. They sat down against a tree in the back yard. "So I talked with Gaara yesterday and he said he'll bee gone for another two weeks." Naruto said.

"Oh okay." Sasuke shrugged.

"Well, I mean I'm not going to have anything to do for the next two weeks and so I'll probably be coming over a lot you know. Unless you don't want me to." Naruto said.

"No, it's cool. You can come over whenever you want." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled. Sasuke sighed and looked up at the blue sky. "I don't want to pry or anything, but I've been reading your autobiography recently."

"What? That thing actually sold? Wow." Naruto laughed and ran a hand through his hair. Sasuke nodded.

"It's weird because I read it when I first bought it and I knew that it was about someone's life but then when I met you and started reading it again I realized it was really about someone's life." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, it does seem like a fairy tale." Naruto laughed.

"How do you do it?" Sasuke asked.

"Do what?" Naruto asked looking up at him.

"Keep going, be happy, just live?" Sasuke asked.

"I have to. If I don't then it'd just be a waste." Naruto said. "I tried the whole wallowing in self pity for about a day and then I realized no one cares about my troubles and I'd just have to move on so I did."

"You know, the first time I ever heard about you I was amazed. Then I went to your art show and saw 'lost suicide' and 'good or bad' and was kind of disturbed. Then I saw 'golden rain' and 'kyu holes' and was speechless. Then I read your book and pitied you. Now I've met you I sit in awe because you're one of the most amazing people I have ever met." Sasuke said. Naruto blushed.

"That's really corny, Sasuke." Naruto said softly.

"Yeah, sorry." Sasuke laughed slightly. "So, your dad died when you were," Sasuke started.

"Ten. We were driving home from an art exhibit one night. My dad was always into art always taking me to galleries and stuff. He wanted me to be an artist so bad. I was okay, you know, for a ten year old and he kept telling me that I was going to be great because I was his son and he believed in me. We got hit head on by a drunk driver. Dad died on the way to the hospital. I was unconscious and woke up two days later. I think that was when I became really good at art. I think it was my dad helping me out a lot." Naruto said calmly. He wasn't bothered by talking about it anymore, so many other things had happened to him that if he stopped to be bothered by one they would all come crashing down on him.

"That's got to be rough." Sasuke said.

"It was, I got into the wrong crowd and got arrested when I was thirteen. I had no family to speak of so they sent me to a 'detention camp' which was a nicer way of saying jail. I wasn't really interested in much other than art. We were allowed to choose a few things to keep in our cell to entertain us when we were just sitting there. I got a notebook and a piece of charcoal. After a few days of the guards watching me they called in an expert or something. The people in charge encouraged us kids to channel our energy into a hobby and the expert said art should be my hobby. I got put in Deidara's class first. The first day he handed me this paintbrush and told me to do whatever I wanted. Everyone else he had told to paint something simple. I painted shapes of red and orange and yellow blending together and blue swirling around the top with a few black and purple splatters mixed in. Deidra said it looked like an explosion. When it came time to leave his class that day, Deidara told me to keep the paintbrush because I'm the only one who had ever gotten anything that amazing to come out of it." Naruto said.

"I remember seeing that painting. What was the name?" Sasuke asked.

"Art DEL 2538. It was what they stamped at the bottom of it. That was my ID number at the camp. But after a few weeks Deidara wanted to see what I could do with clay. Deidara told me about times when he was a kid and had made clay sculptures and put explosives in them just for fun. He was a strange guy though, he got drunk once and tattooed mouths with tongues hanging out onto his palms. I asked him why and he said he had no idea he just woke up and they were there." Naruto laughed a bit. "I was good with clay too. Sasori, the other art teacher wanted to see how I was with building and carving sculptures so I was also put into his class. The first thing I ever made for Sasori was a puppet. Sasori had a thing for puppets. He told me that when he was a kid and his parents died no one wanted to be friends with him and he had a puppet his grandmother had made him and that was who his friend was for the longest time. He talked about his puppets as if they were real people."

"That's kind of scary." Sasuke said. Naruto laughed.

"Yeah, they all hung up in the workshop and it always felt like they were staring at me whenever I was working, you know? It was cool in a really creepy way. I started building stuff with Sasori and he was amazed. I got in contact with him yesterday asking if I could come to his workshop to build some stairs for the house." Naruto said. Sasuke stopped him.

"What? Stairs for the house?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I don't like the stairs you have right now, too bulky and in the way. I'm gonna build a black iron spiral staircase to go with the furniture. I don't have enough room anywhere to do it so me and Sasori are gonna build it in his workshop." Naruto nodded. Sasuke nodded as well.

"What about Sai? I saw that piece in an art show then I read the article about it. I want to hear the real story." Sasuke said. Naruto sighed.

"Well, Sai came about a month after I had. He was really good at drawing. He was making a picture book for his brother and he kept it with him at all times. He told me he had forgotten how he was going to finish it and so he needed it near him at all times in case he remembered. He didn't have very good social skills and was pretty awkward most of the time but he was a good guy. We started hanging out all the time and became like best friends and stuff. He was two years older than me. In the detention camp, when you turned sixteen you got moved to a different part of the camp. Well, he was about to turn sixteen and the older guys were giving him a hard time saying he was going to be the bitch and stuff. It scared him. He'd never been with another boy before and so I said I would do it with him. We snuck out behind one of the buildings one night and had sex. It wasn't anything amazing, I mean we were an almost sixteen and a fourteen year old and it was our first time. But I remember when it was over he smiled at me and told me he loved me. We kept going on with our lives during the day and would meet up at night behind one of the buildings and go at it. The morning of his sixteenth birthday he was found dead. He had jumped off of one of the buildings and landed on the sidewalk. It was really scary to see that. I didn't go to my classes for a week or two because I just couldn't get the image of it out of my head. Sasori forced me to come into his class and I spent the entire day there and I made that piece. Sasori said it was one of the most emotional pieces of art he had ever seen in his life." Naruto said.

"Wow." Sasuke breathed softly.

"Once I built it though, I could move on and continue working. Deidara and Sasori had a friend that was interested in my artwork. I agreed to meet their friend when I left the camp and he sponsored my first show and that's how this whole art career got started." Naruto smiled.

"That's quite a story you have." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, but really I think if I had had a normal life then I wouldn't have been as good as I am now." Naruto shrugged. He looked up at the sky and sighed. "What about you? What's your story?"

"Don't really have one. I graduated form high school when I was 16 because I'm apparently a genius. I got into design school that year and after graduating three years later I started working for my family's company and I've been doing that ever since." Sasuke shrugged.

"You tell it so boring." Naruto laughed. "What about your family? When did you decide you wanted to be a designer? Who was your first love? You need to tell me those sort of things."

"Well, my family is my dad and mom and brother. I don't know it's always been business with us so I didn't have much of a childhood. My brother started me in sketching. He said I had a natural ability being and Uchiha and all. I fell in love at an early age but that person left me when I was 18 and it really hasn't been the same between us since. I think pouring myself into my work helped me get over it though. I took a few art classes you know, not just design stuff. It helped me get my frustration out. When I started at the company I started in the warehouse so that I could get a feel for the machines and know what they could or couldn't make. I know hoe to make pretty much everything our company makes and occasionally I get away with making special pieces for myself." Sasuke said. "Other than that, there isn't much to tell."

"Well it's more exciting than I graduated, went to college and now work for my family's company." Naruto smiled at him.

"I guess." Sasuke shrugged.

"I don't know, sometimes I wish I could go to school and get an education." Naruto said. Sasuke frowned. It was again one of those things he knew but didn't realize. Naruto hadn't even gotten to go to high school.

"You could always take classes online and get your GED. Then go to college." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"It's not like they can teach me anything I don't already know." Naruto said. "I just had to learn the hard way." He added with a laugh. They sat there for a few moments in silence. "I should get going. Looks like you have some work to do." Naruto said as some of the workers started unloading new wood and sheetrock for the house.

"Yeah, sure." Sasuke nodded.

"Hey, I'll come back tomorrow and help out. If I had known I would have helped out today." Naruto said standing up and brushing his pants off.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Sasuke nodded.

"Later." Naruto smiled while putting his ear-buds in and turning on his music player. He waved and ran off.


	3. Chapter 3

cahpter 3. DON'T OWN NARUTO. sasu/naru. boy love. Ita/sasu and mention of Ita/naru in this chapter.

"Wow, this place is looking amazing." Naruto said walking into the house.

"Yeah, our workers know how to get the job done." Sasuke said from the, now, balcony. Naruto smiled up at him. Naruto wore an orange jumpsuit opened at the top to show a black undershirt and black boots. His goggles were around his neck and he had a bandage around both of his hands his paintbrush was sticking out of his left boot.

"I'm almost finished with the stairs. They can probably be put in by the end of the week." Naruto said climbing the scaffolding that lead up to the second floor. When Sasuke had told the men Naruto was going to put in different stairs they tore the old stairs out so now needed scaffolding to get up to the second floor.

"That's good." Sasuke said helping Naruto up the last little bit. He pulled Naruto a little too hard and Naruto ended up flying into him and they both fell onto the floor. Sasuke hit his back and Naruto was on top of him.

"Sorry, bout that." Naruto laughed a little and rolled off of Sasuke.

"So, how much work is left?" Naruto asked.

"Not much, really. I'm still working on the room for you. The office hasn't changed but I figured Gaara would have his own ideas for it. We still need to put in the stairs before we can tile the downstairs. We've put the tile up in the other rooms up here and are treating the concrete on the balcony and in the master bathroom. And then we'll paint the walls in here and downstairs and move all the furniture in." Sasuke said. Naruto grinned as he got up and went into the master bathroom.

"I'm glad this bathroom is so big. Gaara got so pissed at me if I did papier-mâché or clay sculptures in our bathroom. The tub would always get dirty and the floor was always gross. Now I have a room for it all." Naruto smiled excitedly. "God, I can't wait to start working here. There's enough room downstairs to put some of my work on display. The garage is big enough for the rest of my stuff. I don't have to keep tripping over canvases and stacks of wood and buckets of clay." Naruto said coming out of the bathroom to stand on the balcony.

"I hope you like your house." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, I love it so much. Thanks for everything you've done. I can't even begin to express my appreciation." Naruto smiled brightly at him. Sasuke's mind played a few ideas of how Naruto could have thanked him but Sasuke quickly shoved those thoughts aside.

"Don't think anything of it." Sasuke smiled at him.

"We should get to work." Naruto said. "If we paint the walls today we can treat the floors tomorrow. I'll spend the next day finishing the stairs and then we can put them in the day after and finish tiling down here and then the house will be done." Naruto said excitedly. Sasuke nodded and they started painting the walls. It didn't take long, three men came up and helped with the painting telling Sasuke that the rest of the men were downstairs painting walls. They actually had time to finish the walls and treat the concrete floors. Naruto smiled excitedly as he and Sasuke sat downstairs.

"Looks like the house is going to be finished faster than you thought." Sasuke smiled at him.

"Yeah. Hey, you should come with me to Sasori's workshop tomorrow. I don't think he would mind." Naruto said. Sasuke frowned.

"I don't know." Sasuke said.

"Suit yourself. You can just sit around here and be bored all day." Naruto said.

"I do have work that I need to do. Renovating this house isn't the only thing I have to do." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's weird because I forget sometimes. All my friends are in college right now so they're always busy. My granny is the mayor and so she's always busy. Gaara tries to keep as much free time as he possibly can to be with me but he's busy a lot. I forgot for a while that you're like them and have a life and work and stuff. I'm a junior high drop out who sleeps all day and then makes art whenever I want." Naruto laughed.

"I didn't know Tsunade was your grandmother. It's not in your book." Sasuke said feeling kind of stupid for how much he had obsessed over reading the book recently.

"Yeah, that book was published right around the time I turned 18. I met my granny when I was almost 19. She said she had looked for me after dad died but then I disappeared from the orphanage. The prison didn't really have any papers on me so when I disappeared from the orphanage I literally disappeared from all records. Then she said she had heard about my work but didn't know if it was me or not. I wasn't exactly an easy person to find either. So finally when the book got published she asked the company how to get into contact with me. She's not really my granny. She was the wife of my dad's favorite teacher. They were kind of like my godparents but not officially. But since Dad's job had him moving all the time and Jiraiya's job also had him moving all the time we never really got to meet each other. Well, they were there for the first few years of my life, but I don't remember it. So I met her and she gave me this necklace on my birthday saying it was a good luck charm. I guess its working cause Gaara ended up getting a huge business deal a month later and so that allowed me to keep doing my art. Then I got a show in a great gallery and made a ton of money off of that so I could buy a new house. Then I found your house which is perfect then you're helping out with a whole lot of stuff and I consider you to be a pretty good friend too." Naruto smiled at him.

"Yeah, I must admit I really like to spend time with you. It's only been two weeks since we met but I think we've gotten really close." Sasuke said while his mind screamed that he was in love with Naruto. Naruto smiled wider and laughed a bit.

"I hope we can still hang out when you move out of here. Where are you moving?" Naruto asked. Sasuke frowned.

"I haven't found a place yet. I'll probably end up living with my brother until I do find a place." Sasuke shrugged.

"Oh, well I guess that could be okay. I don't know how you and your brother get a long or anything." Naruto said.

"We get along fine for brothers." Sasuke shrugged again.

"You still think we could hang out though, right? I mean you did put a lot of work into this house, you should be able to visit whenever." Naruto said.

"I would love to hang out whenever you wanted, Naruto. I would come over every day if you wanted." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled at him and hugged him.

"Really? You mean it?" Naruto asked excitedly while tightening his grip around Sasuke's waist.

"Of course I mean it, Naruto." Sasuke said forcing himself not to do anything that would get him in trouble.

"You're the greatest, Sasuke. I mean it." Naruto smiled at him.

"Okay, now get off. You're suffocating me." Sasuke said pushing Naruto off of him. Naruto laughed.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Well I should get going. I'm gonna get up early to finish the stairs and then bring it over here day after tomorrow." Naruto smiled as he stood up.

"Okay, I'll see you later then." Sasuke smiled and waved as Naruto left. Of course he groaned when Naruto was gone. If Naruto hadn't hugged him he wouldn't be sporting the nice tent in his pants. Life really wasn't fair to Sasuke sometimes. He went into work the next day but didn't get anything done. The two receptionists almost fainted when they had seen him walk in that morning.

"So you really are here, little brother." Itachi smiled as he stood in the doorway of Sasuke's office.

"What do you want, Itachi?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing. I was just kind of confused when Sakura told me you were here." Itachi said. Sasuke growled as he crumpled up some paper and threw it in his already full waste basket. "Why are you here, Sasuke?"

"It's my office. When did I need a reason to be in my office?" Sasuke asked.

"Since you haven't shown up in a month. Especially these past two weeks, we haven't heard anything from you recently." Itachi said.

"Well, there's nothing to be done on the house today and I'm working on something special." Sasuke said.

"Something special?" Itachi asked.

"How much of the black iron do we have left from the furniture for this house?" Sasuke asked.

"You're wanting to make another piece?" Itachi asked.

"No, I'm going to make a special piece." Sasuke told him. Itachi frowned at Sasuke and stepped further into the room.

"What are you planning, little brother?" Itachi asked.

"Nothing, it's not important." Sasuke snapped at him. Itachi moved to stand in front of Sasuke's drafting table and stared down at the drawing.

"Sasuke," Itachi sighed. "What are you planning?"

"Have you ever had something that was bothering you so much that you couldn't stop thinking about it? An image in your head, you know? Then when you finally give that image a real form you can get over it and move on with your life?" Sasuke asked.

"So you are in love with him, then?" Itachi asked.

"It's nothing." Sasuke said.

"It better be nothing. Uzumaki belongs to Gaara, Sasuke, not you. When Gaara gets back from his trip you better not do anything stupid." Itachi growled at his brother. Sasuke flinched.

"How did you know it was him?" Sasuke asked softly.

"I asked some of your crew and I looked up the paperwork. But I would have known just form looking at that sketch. You're a fool if you think making that will make you feel better." Itachi said and walked out of Sasuke's office. Sasuke growled and crumpled up the paper again. Itachi and Sasuke both knew that Sasuke was stubborn when it came to getting things he wanted. He had done many foolish things in his past but he couldn't afford to do something foolish in this case and that was what made Itachi nervous. Itachi came back a few minutes later.

"What?" Sasuke growled at him.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid, Sasuke." Itachi said softly.

"You don't understand, Itachi, I've been in love with him for two years now." Sasuke sighed.

"I really do understand, Sasuke. More than you know." Itachi frowned. "Please, just promise you won't do anything stupid." Sasuke grit his teeth.

"I'll try. I can promise you that I'll try not to do anything stupid." Sasuke said softly as he stared down at his drawing.

"If you plan on giving that to him, you better lie about the reason." Itachi told him pointing at the paper. Sasuke nodded.

"I already know that, Itachi." Sasuke said. Itachi sighed and leaned against the wall before sliding down and sitting on the floor.

"Why do you do this, Sasuke?" Itachi asked softly. "We were happy once."

"Yeah, we were. But things are different now, aren't they big brother? Maybe I do stupid things because the only person I really loved abandoned me and now I don't know how to act towards people I love." He said. "Maybe I'm desperate to have my affection returned." He added softly. Itachi sighed.

"You always had a problem knowing your boundaries. You can't make any mistakes with Uzumaki or Gaara will probably kill you." Itachi told him.

"You think I don't know?" Sasuke laughed hollowly. "I know I've fucked up everything. I know that as soon as Gaara gets back I'm never going to see Naruto again. I know that I've spent too much time with him because now I'm addicted to his smiles and laughter. I can't stop, Itachi, you can't understand," Sasuke started.

"I understand perfectly well what you're feeling, Sasuke!" Itachi snapped at him. Sasuke looked at his brother and then his eyes widened in realization.

"You." He whispered shakily. "Sasori and Deidara." He stuttered. "They're the same guys you went to high school with. They sent Naruto to you." He said softly. Itachi looked at the floor. "That... that was the reason you," Sasuke paused. "You fucking bastard!" Sasuke yelled at him. Itachi flinched at Sasuke's volume. "He was 15!" Sasuke yelled.

"You were younger than that, Sasuke." Itachi said softly.

"Yeah, but I loved you and you left me to be with him!" Sasuke yelled. "You abandoned me to take advantage of him?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"I didn't take advantage of him!" Itachi yelled back.

"But I loved you!" Sasuke yelled at him. Sasuke could feel tears forming in his eyes but couldn't bring himself to care at the time. "You didn't need him because you had me." Sasuke said as he started crying.

"Are you mad because I abandoned you or because of who I replaced you with?" Itachi asked. Sasuke growled.

"I was always mad that you abandoned me. But I had assumed that it had been Kisame not this, never this." Sasuke cried. "You were my age, Itachi." Sasuke said softly. Itachi looked back at the ground. "He had seen his beast friend dead, he had been in jail for two years. He was just a kid, I know you took advantage of him. He wouldn't have known any better."

"I didn't take advantage of him, Sasuke." Itachi said.

"Why was I never good enough for you?" Sasuke cried.

"You honestly think our relationship was better than mine and Uzumaki's?" Itachi asked. "Sasuke, what we had wasn't healthy."

"You ruined me, Itachi. You destroyed me, shattered me and I've never been able to pick up the pieces." Sasuke said.

"I never meant to hurt you Sasuke." Itachi said.

"Did you ever love me?" Sasuke asked. Itachi looked up somewhat shocked by the question.

"You know I did, Sasuke." Itachi told him.

"Then why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I loved him too." Itachi said. Sasuke stared at Itachi as tears rolled down his cheeks. "I didn't take advantage of him, Sasuke. I loved him a lot. But I couldn't keep funding him and I didn't want him to be funded by our company because he's too good of an artist to be put into the barriers the corporate world sets up. I called Gaara and asked him if he was interested in funding him and Gaara agreed and took him away." Itachi said. "I know, Sasuke. Trust me I know what it's like to be in love with him and know that you can never have him." Itachi said softly. Sasuke stood up from his chair walked over to Itachi. He knelt down in front of him and the two stared at eachother with tears in their eyes. Itachi reached up and wiped some of Sasuke's tears away. Sasuke closed his eyes and leant into the touch. "I never meant to hurt you, Sasuke." Itachi said softly.

"Well you did. You still do. You still are. Everyday it hurts." Sasuke whispered keeping his eyes closed, somewhat afraid to look at his brother. He felt Itachi's other hand touch the back of his neck and stroke the tiny hairs at the base of his head. He could hear Itachi moving closer and then Itachi's lips on his. Sasuke let out a small sob at the contact he had been craving for four year. Itachi pressed his lips a little harder against Sasuke's while pulling Sasuke's face closer. Sasuke was crying as he wrapped his armd around Itachi's neck and deepened the kiss. "I hate you for this." Sasuke said against Itachi's lips. "For ruining me." He added.

"I know." Itachi said sadly. His movements, however, contradicted his words as he pulled Sasuke's legs apart slightly and laid Sasuke on the floor. Sasuke only encouraged his brother as he slid Itachi's jacket off and ground up against him. Something in the back of their mind told them not to continue, but they couldn't do anything to stop. It felt like they had to keep going or they would die. This wasn't about craving the lust they felt for each other but about comforting the loss they felt over Naruto.


	4. Chapter 4

chapter 4. DO NOT OWN. yaoi. sasu/naru. Gaa/Naru in this chapter.

"It looks good." Sasuke said looking at the staircase that was now set up properly in the house.

"Hell yes it does." Naruto smiled climbing up the stairs. "I built them specifically for this house." Naruto said. Sasuke smiled as he also climbed the stairs. The men were finishing laying the grey stone tiles that covered the floors of the entire house. Naruto went into his bedroom and looked out the large window. He sat in the window seat and Sasuke joined him.

"When do you think you'll move in?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know." Naruto said still staring out the window.

"Your furniture is still being finished. It was a large order and probably won't be finished for another few weeks." Sasuke said. Naruto shrugged.

"That's okay, you can just live in the house until all the furniture is finished and moved in." He smiled. Sasuke nodded. "Hey, how about we spend the night tonight? You know kind of to celebrate the house being finished?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I don't know if that would be a good idea." Sasuke shook his head knowing that if he spent the night with Naruto he would do something stupid.

"Please? It'll be fun. We can get your TV out and watch some movies and then I have my sleeping bag and I'll just sleep on the balcony and you can sleep wherever." Naruto said. Sasuke inwardly grimaced. Something had changed slightly. He had only known Naruto for a few weeks but he knew that if it had been a couple of days ago Naruto would have said 'we could sleep...' Sasuke was slightly afraid to know what had changed and so said nothing about it.

"I guess. I can always set up my bed in the bedroom." Sasuke shrugged. Naruto smiled happily.

"Really? That's awesome!" Naruto smiled. "Thank you so much, Sasuke." He said happily. Sasuke knew there should have been a hug in there somewhere. Now he was really scared to know what had changed between them over that one day apart. Sasuke smiled and nodded. The workers got out Sasuke's bed for him, well really just the mattress because Sasuke didn't want to set up his whole bed if he was going to be moving out in a few weeks. The TV and couch was also pulled out. Naruto made dinner in the new kitchen and they watched a few movies before going to sleep. The next morning a low rumbling woke Sasuke up. As the rumbling got louder he heard Naruto squeal excitedly. He made it too the hall to see Naruto running down the stairs to go look out the front windows.

"What are you so excited about?" Sasuke asked walking down the stairs.

"That's Gaara's car I would recognize the sound anywhere." Naruto smiled. A very expensive blood red car pulled up in front of the house. Naruto jumped up and ran out the front door. Sasuke got to watch as Naruto ran into Gaara's arms and then as they made out on the front lawn. He grit his teeth and after a few minutes he opened the door.

"Hey, don't you want to show Gaara the new house?" Sasuke called. Naruto and Gaara looked over at him.

"Sasuke Uchiha, what are you doing here?" Gaara asked as he set Naruto on the ground and took his hand. Naruto latched onto Gaara's arm and bounced excitedly at his side.

"This is my house." Sasuke shrugged.

"Is it? What a coincidence." Gaara said in a somewhat bored tone. Naruto pulled Gaara towards the house.

"Look, look. Come see all that we've done." Naruto smiled excitedly as he pulled Gaara into the house. "Now, there isn't any furniture so you'll just have to imagine it. We got these cool gray stone tiles for all of the floors except my work area. We're going to get rugs and stuff soon though. Me and Sasuke designed all the furniture and everything. The coffee table, the dining room table and the dining room chairs are all the black iron like the staircase. The table tops are going to be glass with swirls carved into the corners. We have kind of a swirl-theme going on." Naruto said. Gaara nodded and looked at the staircase.

"You made this, Naru?" Gaara asked. Naruto laughed and nodded his head.

"Yeah, me and Sasori built it in his workshop at the detention camp. I didn't have much room in our apartment." Naruto said. Gaara nodded. He also knew Sasori and Deidara from high school even though they were a year older than him.

"That's great." Gaara said smiling slightly at him.

"And see this awesome view?" Naruto asked pointing out the front windows. Gaara nodded and wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist. Sasuke glared. Even though he knew Gaara wasn't doing it to show off, he still didn't want to see it. "So, yeah, we tore out all the walls here and made the downstairs a big open area." Naruto said motioning around them. "The couch and chairs will go here and the Entertainment center will go here. All this other room will be for my statues and stuff, right?" Naruto asked pointing out where everything was supposed to go.

"Of course, Naru." Gaara nodded. Naruto smiled and tightened his grip on Gaara's arm.

"The couch and chairs and the cushions on the dining room chairs are all the same pattern. It's going to be white with black stitched in and then orange and green and blue swirls stitched in. Accent pillows for the couch and chairs are going to be big black pillows and small orange, blue and green pillows. It'll look really cool, don't you think?" Naruto asked.

"I'm sure it will look great." Gaara nodded.

"Yeah, well Sasuke here is an awesome designer. I just kind of told him what I wanted and he made it." Naruto smiled.

"Wow, that was very kind of you, Uchiha." Gaara said giving Sasuke a suspicious look. Sasuke shrugged.

"I needed to design a new line for the company so really it just made my job easier." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and nodded.

"Come and look upstairs." Naruto smiled pulling on Gaara's arm. "It's not really much." He said walking up the stairs while still holding Gaara's hand.

"So this is your new work space?" Gaara asked seeing the balcony. Naruto looked ecstatic.

"Isn't it awesome?" Naruto asked. "The guys treated the floor so that it would be easy to clean all the dust and dirt off. And also if I drop something heavy it won't mess up the floor. Then I have this huge bathroom to do clay and papier-mâché in so I don't have to get out bathroom all dirty." Naruto smiled. Gaara nodded.

"That's wonderful, Naru." Gaara kind of smiled again. Naruto pulled him to the next room.

"This will be your office. It's the biggest room up here now so you'll have plenty of room for all of your stuff. But mow you can have your in home office so you can stay home with me more." Naruto smiled. Sasuke had stayed downstairs and was thankful because when he had heard that he let out a soft sob. Gaara was Naruto's boyfriend. He had known it the whole time but now that Gaara was here it really hurt to see them together. Naruto then moved to the room in the back corner of the house.

"What is this room?" Gaara asked.

"That's my room. Sasuke is designing it for me and I'm not allowed in until it's done." Naruto said. Gaara frowned at the thought of Sasuke designing a room for Naruto. Gaara knew that Naruto still kind of had feelings for the older Uchiha brother and didn't really trust Naruto forming a relationship with the younger one. "Look at the bathroom though." Naruto said excitedly. "We got a two person bathtub and a glass shower." Naruto smiled. Gaara smiled and kissed him softly.

"We'll have to put those to good use then, hmm?" Gaara asked. Naruto laughed.

"Oh, and the bedroom." Naruto said going into the front room. Gaara tightened his grip on Naruto's hand when he saw the mattress on the floor. "Sasuke is staying in here till the furniture is finished and put in cause it's still technically his house. But we're gonna get a four-poster queen bed in here. And then we can lay on it and look out the giant windows at the city and it'll be so cool." Naruto smiled.

"Where did you stay last night?" Gaara asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I slept in my sleeping bag on the balcony. I was really excited about it, you know?" Naruto smiled. Gaara sighed and nodded. "Well, that's it. We should probably get going, I'm sure Sasuke has things he needs to do." Naruto said pulling Gaara back towards the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Gaara said. Sasuke was standing at the front door waiting for them. Naruto smiled at Sasuke as they passed.

"I'll see you later, Sasuke." Naruto said. Sasuke smiled.

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded. He of course knew Gaara probably wouldn't allow it though. Gaara gave Sasuke a look and Sasuke said nothing. The two left and Sasuke sighed heavily. He sat down and leaned against the front door. He sat there all day. Around five that night it started to rain and he moved to sit in front of the large windows and just watch it raining. A few hours later he saw something moving through the rain. It was bright orange and immediately he knew who it was. Sasuke went to open the door.

"Can I stay here?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at Naruto. He looked pitiful standing there soaking wet in his giant orange poncho. But Sasuke could see tears in his eyes and stepped aside to let Naruto into the house. Sasuke could tell Naruto was holding stuff under the poncho and so took it off for him.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked softly. Naruto stood there in a black t-shirt and green boxers and flip-flops. He held a stuffed fox and a black book and his paintbrush against his chest.

"Gaara cheated on me." Naruto said softly. "I grabbed these things and left." Naruto said. Sasuke put his arm around Naruto and lead him to the couch.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Neji." Naruto scoffed.

"What? It was Hyuuga?"

"Yeah, Gaara went there to settle business deal and obviously it went well." Naruto growled. "I know they went out in high school and even in college. But him going back to Neji would be like me going back to," Naruto stopped.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked. Naruto flinched.

"You knew about that?" Naruto asked softly.

"Sasori and Deidara are Itachi's friends from high school. I always had my suspicions and then Itachi accidentally told me the other day." Sasuke said.

"I didn't want you to get mad about it. That's why I never told you." Naruto asked. Sasuke looked confused.

"Why would I get mad?" Sasuke asked.

"Because you loved him and I took him away from you." Naruto said. Sasuke's eyes widened in slight horror. "Don't worry, I'm not going to think your disgusting or anything." Naruto told him.

"It seems stupid now but I was so desperate for his attention and affection that I didn't care if it was wrong. I couldn't help but to love him for it." Sasuke muttered.

"I understand. My mother died while giving birth to me and people decided to blame me for it. The always gave me cold looks and I could see blame and hatred and disgust in their eyes. After growing up with that when someone finally looks at me with love and kindness I can't help but to cling to them." Naruto said. "Sai was the first person to ever say he loved me. Then Itachi came along and I wanted to see why he thought his love was better than Sai's. Then I wanted to see why Gaara thought his love was better than Itachi's."

"So it's always been about Sai?" Sasuke asked. Naruto laughed and shook his head.

"It's never been about anyone other than me. I knew what I felt when I was with all of them and why but I've never found the 'who.'" Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"What I felt was love. Why I felt it was because someone loved me. But it was always that, just someone. It was never because Sai loved me or because Itachi loved me or because Gaara loved me. I want to find that one person who makes me feel love because it is them that loves me." Naruto said.

"I can understand that." Sasuke nodded.

"I want to find that person who completes me." Naruto said.

"Someone to fill that hole?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. Sasuke yawned. "We should get to sleep." Sasuke said.

"Can I sleep with you? I don't like storms." Naruto said. Sasuke sighed and nodded.

"Sure, come on." Sasuke said. They walked up to the room where Sasuke's mattress was and they both laid down. Sasuke laid on his back and Naruto laid on his side facing away from Sasuke. Naruto reached back and pulled Sasuke's arm around him. "Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly.

"It comforts me. I get scared in storms." Naruto mumbled. Sasuke's body moved on it's own as he wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and spooned against his back. "Thanks, Sasuke." Naruto whispered.

"Go to sleep." Sasuke told him. He looked over Naruto's shoulder to see him clinging to the fox and biting its ear. The paintbrush and photo album sat on the floor by the bed. "Did you really just grab those things and leave?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. Sasuke sighed and tightened his grip slightly on Naruto.


	5. Chapter 5

last chapter. DON'T OWN. YAOI. sasu/naru. **LEMON!!** kinkness with a paint brush. fluffyness at the end.

"Naruto!" Gaara yelled as he banged on the door of the house. Sasuke opened the door and glared at Gaara.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked.

"I need to talk to Naruto." Gaara said.

"He's in the shower." Sasuke said.

"Then I'll wait." Gaara told him trying to step into the house.

"You can wait outside." Sasuke said shutting the door.

"It's pouring out here!" Gaara yelled.

"Sorry!" Sasuke yelled back. About ten minutes later Naruto came walking down the stairs to see Gaara and Sasuke in a glaring match through the front window.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto! Please just let me talk to you!" Gaara said through the window. Naruto huffed and opened the door.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I'm sorry." Gaara said. Naruto punched him and Gaara stumbled backwards and fell into the wet grass.

"What? You fucking cheat on me with Neji and all you can say is you're sorry?" Naruto growled at him. "Look, Gaara I can understand that he was the first guy you ever had real feelings for, trust me I understand that. But you can't just go and sleep with him and expect me to understand it."

"Naru, baby, we've been together for two years. Can't we just move past it?" Gaara asked. Naruto snarled.

"Two years, Gaara! Two and a half fucking years and you threw it all away in one night. You ignored everything you had with me to go have drunken sex with him!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"Naruto, you're making this a bigger deal than it is." Gaara said. "It didn't mean anything."

"How do I know that you didn't tell him the same thing about me?" Naruto asked. "How do I know you haven't done this before?"

"Naru, you know I love you." Gaara said. Naruto shook his head.

"You still love him, Gaara." Naruto said. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down and then looked at Gaara. "You're still in love with him and he's still in love with you. He completes you, as much as I hate to admit it."

"Na-" Gaara started but Naruto shook his head.

"I'll stay under your company if you want me to, but I think this is where our relationship ends. I guess it was a good thing I bought the house myself, huh?" Naruto asked calmly.

"Naruto." Gaara sighed.

"You go be with Neji and be happy." Naruto smiled softly at him.

"Thank you, Naruto." Gaara said sticking out his hand. Naruto shook the hand and Gaara walked off.

"That was amazingly generous of you, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"I always knew Gaara wouldn't be with me forever." Naruto shrugged and shut the door.

"Are you going to miss him?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, I'll just keep looking for my 'who.'" Naruto said. Sasuke nodded. That night Sasuke and Naruto got really, really drunk. Naruto acted like he wasn't affected by his and Gaara's breakup, but Sasuke knew he was and wanted to get him drunk enough to forget about it for a while. Unfortunately this was one of those times where he did something stupid that would probably end up getting him into trouble later.

"Naruto, can I kiss you?" Sasuke asked in the middle of their enlightening conversation about pot holders. Naruto didn't even answer, he just pulled Sasuke into a kiss. A really hot, amazing, take your breath away, mind melting, passionate kiss. All Sasuke could think was 'holy crap this kid is an amazing kisser!' Maybe it wasn't asking the question that was stupid. And maybe it wasn't actually making out with an emotionally vulnerable Naruto that was stupid. But it was definitely stupid when they ended up on Sasuke's mattress with no clothes on. And it was definitely really stupid when Sasuke didn't stop there.

"Sas, make me forget." Naruto breathed out. Sasuke lost most if not all of those hindering thoughts just at Naruto's voice alone. Sasuke started sucking and biting Naruto's neck. Naruto moaned and gripped Sasuke's hair tightly. Sasuke saw he had left a few nice glaring bite marks and then moved down Naruto's chest. "Oh god."

"No, it's Sasuke, but you can call me that if you like." Sasuke smirked at him. Naruto tried to glare but Sasuke licked one of his nipples and Naruto's eyes squeezed shut at he let out another heated moan. Sasuke licked and nipped all over Naruto's chest and stomach, slowly making his way down to Naruto's erection. Sasuke didn't even take time to acquaint himself with the large pulsing organ before he deep throated him. Naruto screamed out and tried to buck his hips but Sasuke held them down.

"Sas, oh god, Sasuke." Naruto was panting. Sasuke bobbed his head up and down as he sucked and licked on Naruto's member. Naruto just writhed in pleasure and quickly exploded in Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke didn't seem to mind and swallowed it all. Sasuke sat up and looked down at the flushed, panting and slightly shaking young man as he came down from his euphoria. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto's paintbrush on the floor. He started stroking Naruto's member to full hardness again.

"You said that Deidara said you were the only one to ever get anything amazing to come out of this brush?" Sasuke asked picking it up. Naruto, still slightly dazed , just nodded. His chest twitched at the bristled touched his sweaty skin. Sasuke leisurely slid the paintbrush up Naruto's neck then down to one of his nipples then to the other one, down to his stomach and then around the base of his erection.

"You get and cum on my brush I'll fucking murder you." Naruto growled out as Sasuke stroked halfway up Naruto's erection.

"Don't worry, baby." Sasuke smirked at him. He stroked the brush back down and then to Naruto's ass. "Lets see what I can get this brush to make, hmm?" Sasuke smiled. Sasuke pushed Naruto's legs up so his knees bent, revealing Naruto's entrance to him. Sasuke grabbed the tube of Lube from under his pillow and squirted a little on the wooden handle of the brush. The handle was about the width of Sasuke's finger. Sasuke smirked and looked at Naruto who widened his eyes, realizing what Sasuke was about to do.

"Sasuke, don't you dare," Naruto started but then screamed as the wooden handle was shoved up his ass and hit directly into his prostate. "Holy shit, do that again." Naruto panted. Sasuke smiled and thrust the handle in and out of Naruto. Naruto was gasping and moaning and panting and Sasuke enjoyed all of the little noises Naruto made. Sasuke added two of his fingers in with the handle to stretch Naruto out. Naruto let out a please moan. After a minute or so of constant prostate abuse Naruto arched off of the mattress and came violently onto his stomach and chest.

"What do you know, I made an explosion too." Sasuke smirked pulling the handle out. Naruto growled at him.

"I can't believe you did that to my brush. That thing was sacred and you defiled it." Naruto said. Sasuke smiled and crawled up Naruto's body and kissed him.

"You enjoyed it. That was too kinky not to enjoy." Sasuke said. Naruto frowned at him. "I didn't get anything on the brush though, just like you told me." Sasuke smiled at him.

"Be glad you're cute." Naruto growled and pulled him in for another kiss.

"Okay, foreplay is over. It's my turn to get some action now." Sasuke said when Naruto broke the kiss. Sasuke sat up slightly to rub the lube on his now painful member. He pulled Naruto's hips up and aligned himself at Naruto's entrance. "You ready?" Sasuke asked.

"I've been ready." Naruto told him. Sasuke trust forward and didn't stop till he was to the hilt. He waited for Naruto to tell him to continue. And that only took about ten seconds. Sasuke pulled almost all the way out before slamming back in. Naruto screamed in pleasure as Sasuke hit his prostate dead on. He vaguely wondered how Sasuke got it on the first try every time. Sasuke didn't pause for a minute he went as fast and as hard as Naruto begged him to until Naruto arched into him. "Sasuke." Naruto groaned as he came on their chests and stomachs.

"Naruto." Sasuke moaned as he came deep inside Naruto. Naruto fell back on the bed and Sasuke fell on top of him. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sasuke pulled out and rolled to the side of Naruto. Naruto rolled on his side to face Sasuke and then kissed him.

"Thank you, Sasuke." Naruto said softly before passing out. Sasuke pulled the blankets over them and went to sleep. The next morning was when Sasuke realized how stupid he had done. He woke up next to a naked Naruto covered in bite marks and hickies and semen. Sasuke also found himself with a few hickies and covered in semen.

"Well shit." Sasuke said softly. He managed to unwrap himself from Naruto and quickly got into the shower. By the time he got out, Naruto was awake and looking like he was about to cry. "N-Naruto?"

"What did I do?" Naruto asked softly. "I let everything get out of control and then had sex with you." Sasuke winced.

"No, Naruto. It was my fault. I took advantage of you." Sasuke admitted softly. Naruto shook his head.

"You did what I told you to do. I shouldn't have let it get that far." Naruto said. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I didn't mean to unload all my problems on you. I shouldn't have let it get to me." Naruto said standing up and holding the sheet around his waist.

"Naruto," Sasuke started.

"I'm just going to take a shower and leave. I need to pack my stuff from Gaara's anyway." Naruto said quickly pushing past Sasuke and into the bathroom. Sasuke heard the lock click and felt his heart clench painfully. He just sat downstairs and heard Naruto leave twenty minutes later. Sasuke sighed and decided that he should go get his sheets to wash. When he went upstairs he noticed Naruto had taken all of his things. Some part deep inside had hoped to find the photo album and paintbrush still on the floor and the stuffed animal still on his bed but the rest of him knew it wouldn't be there. Sasuke pulled the sheets off of his bed and went on with his day. It was a week later when he came back from his office that he saw the orange motorcycle parked in front of the house meaning Naruto was there.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called walking into the house. Naruto looked down form the balcony. Sasuke could smell paint meaning Naruto was working up there. "How long have you been here?" Sasuke asked.

"About five hours. I figured since it is my house I could work here." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded. He slowly climbed up the stairs.

"So, what have you been up to?" Sasuke asked awkwardly.

"Nothing. I was living with my granny for a while and was helping out a bit at her office. Then I remembered that you were making that room for me and I had promised to make you a special piece." Naruto said as Sasuke started walking up to him. Naruto had to pause to turn the easel. "You can't look yet." Naruto told him.

"Right." Sasuke nodded. "Um, the room is done. You can go see it whenever you want." Sasuke said somewhat awkwardly again.

"I'll finish this and then go check it out, hmm?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded.

"I'll be in the bedroom if you need me." Sasuke said and walked off. Naruto finished his painting about half an hour later because he kept getting unfocused thinking about Sasuke. He put the paint brush he was using in the water can and walked down the hall to the room Sasuke had designed for him. Naruto took a breath and opened the door. It wasn't anything magnificent. There was a small book case on one of the walls that had a few sketchbooks and other books in it. Naruto's original painting of 'Art DEL 2538' hung on the wall. There was a framed picture of Naruto as a baby with his dad and Jiraiya and Tsunade sitting on the top of the book shelf. What really caught his eye were the two things in the corner, a green chair and a black iron side table. The green chair Naruto immediately recognized as the chair that sat in the living room of his house as a boy. He and his dad would sit in that chair and his dad would read stories to him. He then recognized the books on the shelf as the books he owned as a child. The table, however was new. It was a black iron frame with a glass top. But the top was made to hold something that could be seen through the glass. Naruto took a cautious step forward and noticed the table was heart shaped. Another step forward revealed stones under the glass and something carved in the corner of the glass along the straight edge of the heart. Naruto eventually found himself staring down at the table. Stones pressed against the edge on the inside and sand filled the space in the middle. On the side of the glass was carved '_Love is like hearts in the sand_'.

"What?" Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"I want to be the 'who' to that 'what and why.'" Sasuke said. Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke standing in the doorway. "I want to be the stone heart in the sand. I want to be the one who completes you."

"Sasuke." Naruto breathed out.

"God, Naruto you can't understand how crazy I am about you. How I fell in love with you two years ago just from looking at your artwork. You can't understand how happy I was when you said you wanted to buy my house. Or how devastated I was when you said Gaara was your boyfriend. I was jealous and then when you two broke up and we got drunk, I finally had enough courage to ask you if I could do something I wanted to do since the first day I saw you. And then I took advantage of you for my own selfish purposes and I was terrified the next morning because I thought I ruined everything I had with you. But I'm not satisfied with what I had with you, Naruto. I want more. I need more. I want to be the 'who' to be the 'stone hearts' to be the one to fills that hole because no one else but me can. I want that so badly that it hurts." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled a bit.

"I guess I can give you my painting then." Naruto said softly. He walked to Sasuke and took his hand before leading him to his work space. "It needs a bit of assembly but I can do that later." Naruto said. He set down a small canvas, about 5' X 5' with a heart on it and the words '_My only gift_' written along the side. He set down another one just under it. 12' X 9' with a picture of Naruto staring up hopefully while holding the heart in his palms and offering it with the words '_Is a promise_' written across the top. He set down the last piece beside the other two a large 10'X16' with Sasuke and Naruto standing there. They were standing at an angle and most of Naruto's back was showing, Sasuke had his arm wrapped around Naruto's waist and was holding him against his chest. Both were looking out and smiling and Sasuke and Naruto both held the heart loosely at their side. The words '_And a lifetime_' were written across the bottom.

"Naruto." Sasuke breathed out.

"My only gift is a promise and a life time, Sasuke." Naruto said looking at him. "You are the 'who' and the 'stone hearts'. There is a Sasuke shaped hole in my soul that I need to be filled so that I can be complete. So, what do you say?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't answer, he just pulled Naruto into a kiss.

--

The summer after Naruto turned 20 Sasuke and Naruto went to the beach. They had spent the whole day in the water surfing and swimming and sailing. It was sunset and they were walking along the water when Naruto saw a heart drawn in the sand. Ha laughed softly and they kept walking until he saw another in the sand. A few feet later he saw a third heart in the sand. He looked up and noticed there were hearts drawn in the sand every few feet. He was slightly confused and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke just jutted his chin out in front of them at something. Naruto looked up and gasped. There was a blanket with a small bonfire and a picnic basket sitting there, there was a bottle of champagne and two glasses waiting. But just past the picnic was a heart made out of stone. The stones had moved a bit and had suffered through the years, but they were still there.

"You know how hard it was to find this place?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked at him. "You never said where you were when you took that picture. Not only did I have to find the beach but I also had to find the heart." Sasuke smiled.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked slightly shocked.

"Because in another five years I want to come back here with you to find the stone heart still." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled brilliantly and kissed him.

"I love you, Sasuke." Naruto said.

"I love you, Naruto." Sasuke smiled pulling Naruto towards the blanket. They sat there that night to watch the tide change and was away all the hearts in the sand but the stone heart stayed where it was and they knew that was how they would always be. THE END.


End file.
